War in the Modern World

Cyber Arms Limitation Talk in London

Yesterday a cyber tussle in Israel has again made news, and The New York Times promptly screamed “cyber war.”

So with perfect timing, the Department of War Studies is hosting a talk on “Cyber Arms Limitations.” As a bonus incentive, the speaker is Qichao Zhu, a Chinese guest at King’s College right now and otherwise the deputy director of the Center for National Security and Strategic Studies (CNSSS) at the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha, Hunan Province. That’s right — these are guys known for Tianhe-I, until June last year the world’s fastest computer. So when Qichao says cyber weapon, he means it.

Abstract: With the development and proliferation of ICT in recent years, governments, international organizations and private sectors have invested a lot of strategic, tactical and technological concerns on cyber security issues world widely. How to define and differentiate cyber crime and cyber war? How to understand cyber war escalation and de-escalation? Why the western countries always criticize China on cyber espionage cases and look on China as a potential rival on future cyber conflicts? What are the obstacles and difficulties on international cyber arms limitation? Dr. Zhu tries to give some Chinese perspectives on these questions and deliver some recommendations to international cyber security cooperation.